News

US startup charging couples to ‘screen embryos for IQ’

By Hannah Devlin, Tom Burgis, David Pegg, and Jason Wilson, The Guardian [cites CGS’ Katie Hasson] | 10.18.2024

A US startup company is offering to help wealthy couples screen their embryos for IQ using controversial technology that raises questions about the ethics of genetic enhancement.

The company, Heliospect Genomics, has worked with more than a dozen couples undergoing...

Genetic Selection

South Africa amended its research guidelines to allow for heritable human genome editing

By Françoise Baylis and Katie Hasson, The Conversation | 10.24.2024

A little-noticed change to South Africa’s national health research guidelines, published in May of this year, has put the country on an ethical precipice. The newly added language appears to position the country as the first to explicitly permit...

The New Artificial Intelligentsia

By Ruha Benjamin, Los Angeles Review of Books | 10.18.2024

IN THE FALL OF 2016, I gave a talk at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton titled “Are Robots...

A "Post-Human" Future?

What Do You Risk With At-Home DNA Test Kits?

By Ashleigh Wyss [cites CGS' Katie Hasson], Listnr | 10.09.2024

Discovering your genetic history can be as simple as spitting into a test tube, but what happens when your data...

Empty Vermont State House, where the apology was given

Vermont’s legislative leaders apologize for state-sanctioned eugenics movement

By Rachel Nostrant, VTDigger | 10.18.2021

^{Photo of Vermont State House by Don Shall on Flickr}

MONTPELIER — Legislative leaders formally apologized on Saturday for Vermont’s...

Inside Nigeria’s unregulated human egg industry

By Mariam Adetona, Al Jazeera | 10.17.2021

It was a hot afternoon in October 2019, and 22-year-old Joan* [Names have been changed] had just been crying...

Other Countries

an egg cell with a question mark inside

Polygenic screening of embryos is here, but is it ethical?

By Philip Ball, The Guardian [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 10.17.2021

The birth of the first IVF baby, Louise Brown, in 1978 provoked a media frenzy. In comparison, a little girl...

jumbled, mismatched puzzle pieces

The Children of Sperm Donors Want to Change the Rules of Conception

By Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic | 10.15.2021

^{Photo by Hans-Peter Gauster on Unsplash}

Damian Adams grew up knowing that his parents had used an anonymous sperm donor...

Other Countries

Cracking the Egg Donation Market

By Katherine McKeen, The Regulatory Review | 10.13.2021

“Earn up to $50,000 dollars!” “Help a family!” “Donate your eggs!”

Such slogans appear regularly on college bulletin boards and...

Mural with an image of Henrietta Lacks and short bio

WHO honors Henrietta Lacks, woman whose cells served science

By Jamey Keaten, Associated Press | 10.13.2021

^{"Henrietta Lacks" by Crawford Brian is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0}

The chief of the World Health Organization on Wednesday...

Global Governance

Hawaiian double hulled sailing canoe setting out on ceremonial voyage

Genomes Show the History and Travels of Indigenous Peoples

By Keolu Fox, Scientific American | 10.13.2021

^{Robert Cudney / CC-BY-SA-4.0}

I am the proud descendant of people who, at least 1,000 years ago, made one of...

California's Multi-Billion Dollar Plan for Spending on Cell and Gene Therapy Is Nearing Completion

By David Jensen, The California Stem Cell Report | 10.11.2021

The 35 directors of the $12 billion California stem cell agency are scheduled to meet next week for a full...

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